Historical Perception of Architecture and Cultural History Approach

Abstract

The experts and specialists in the field of architecture have had different viewpoints and approaches in defining the concepts of “history” and “the history of architecture”, all through the compiled history of architecture. Analysis of these viewpoints that are sometimes in contrast and sometimes similar to each other brings forward some questions in the minds of the addressees in the field of history of architecture regarding whether or not there is a comprehensive approach or definition about the history of architecture among the existing approaches! And, in case of a positive response, what are the approaches and what can be their specification? The present article, which is a qualitative study with descriptive-analytical approach, is organized with the aim and motivation to respond to the above questions, and it is done by collecting, interpretation, and analyzing the required data. This study has three main parts, the first of which deals with the redefinition of the concept of “history”, the advantages and applications of the history. The second part analyzes the concept of “history of architecture” and searching in the most important viewpoints about that concept; according to these analyses, “the approach towards the cultural history” is introduced and determined as the most comprehensive approach in defining the history of architecture. The third part, which is indeed the complementary part of the descriptions in the second part, is allocated to the explanation of the components of architectural historical perception based on the cultural historical theory, clarifying that the cultural historical approach is the approach that represents “architectural historical perception” as the comprehensive perception of architecture and its history.